The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-06-13

y
peror OF Germany was glad tc. have our
Minister, George Bancroft sit down with
him at his table. But tell me, ye who know
most of the worlds history, what other king
ever asked the abandoned, and the forlorn,
and the wretched and the outcast,
to come and sit down beside him. O, won
derful invitation You can take it to-day,
and stand at the bead of the darkest alley
i'll all this city, and say: Come! Clothes
for your rags, salve for your sores a throne
for your eternal reigning." A Christ that
talks like that, and acts like that, and par
donS like that-do You wonder that Stephen
stood looking at Himf hope to spend eter-
nifty doing the same thing. must see Him.
| must look upon that face once clouded
with my sin, but now radiant with my par
don. | want to touch that hand that
Knocked off my shackles. | want TO hear
that voice which pronounced my deliver
ance, Behold Him, little children, for if
you live to three score years and ten, you
will see none so fair. Behold Him. We aged
ones, for He only can shine through the
dimness of your failing eyesight Behold
Him, earth. Behold Him, heaven. What
moment when all the nations of the saved
shall gather around Christ! All faces that
way, All thrones that way, gazing, gazing
on Jesus.
"His worth if all the nations knew,
Sure the whole earth would love Him, too"
j pass ON now, and look at Stephen stoned
The world has always wanted to get rid Of
good men, Their very life is an assault
upon wickedness Out with Stephen
through the gates of the city. Down with
him over the precipices. Let every man
come up and drop a stone upon his head
But these men did not so much kill Stephen
as they killed themselves. Every stone re-
bounded upon them. While these murder
ers were tTansfixed by the scorn of all good
men, Stephen lives in the admiration of all
Christendom. Stephen stoned; but Stephen
alive. SO all good men must be pelted. All
who will live godly in Christ Jesus must
suffer persecution II is no eulogy of a man
to say that everybody likes him. Show me
anyone who is doing all his duty to State or
church, and | viii show you scores of men
who utterly abhor him.
If all men speak well of you, it is because
you are either laggard or a dolt. II
steamer makes rapid progress through the
waves, the water will boil and foam all
around it. Brave soldiers of Jesus Christ
will hear the carbines click. When / see
man with voice, and money, and influence
all on the right side, and some caricature
him, and some sneer at him, and some de
nounce him, and men who pretend to be
actuated by right motives conspire to Grip
pie him, to cast him out, to destroy him,
say: Stephen stoned.n When see man
in some great moral or religious reform
battling against grog shops, exposing wick
edness in high places, by active means trying
to purify the church and better the worlds
estate, and | find that the newspapers
auhthematize him, and men, even good
men, oppose him and denounce him, be
cause, though he does good, he does not do
it in their way, say stephen stoned"
The world, with infinite spite, took after
John Frederick Oberlin, and Robert Moffat,
and Paul, and Stephen of the text. But
YOU notice, my friends that while they
killing him. You may assault good man,
but you cannot kill him. On the day of his
death Stephen spoke before few people in
the Sanhedrim; this Sabbath morning he
addresses all Christendom. Paul the
Apostle stood on Mars Hill
addressing handful Of philoso-
pliers who knew not so much about
science as a modern school girl. To-day he
talks TO all the millions of Christendom
about the wonders of justification and the
qlories of resurrection. John Wesley was
howled down by the mob to whom he
preached and they threw bricks at him,
and they denounced him, and they jostled
him, and they spat upon him, and yet to
day, in all lands, he is admitted to be the
great father of Methodisn. Booths bullet
vacated the Presidential chair; but from
that spot of coagulated blood on the floor in
the box of Ford's Theatre there sprang up
the new life of a nation. Stephen stoned; !;
but Stephen alive,
Pass on now and see Stephen in his dying
prayer. His first thought was not how the
stones hurt his head, nor what would be
come of his body. His first thought was
about his spirit. Lord Jesus receive my
spirit The murderer standing ON the
trap-door, the black cap being drawn over
his head before the execution, may grimace
about the future but you and | have no
shame in confessing some anxiety about
where we are going to come out You are
not all body. There is within you soul. /
see it cleaning from your eyes to-day,
and see it nTadiating your
countenance. Sometimes | am abashed be
fore an audience, not because | come under
your physical eyesight but because ] real
lie the truth that | stand before so many
immortal spirits The probability is that
your body will at last find sepuiture in
some of the cemeteries that surround this
city. There is no doubt but that your Obse-
auies will be decent and respectful, and you
will be able TO pillow your head uuder the
maple or the Norway spruce, or the cypress,
or The blossoming fir; but this spirit about
that takei What guide will escort itf
What gate win open TO receive
it9 What cloud will be cleft for its path
way! After it has got beyond the light Of
ouI; sun. will there be torches lighted for IL
the rest of the way2 VIII the soul have TO
travel through long deserts before il
reaches the good landl II we should lose
our pathway, will there be "A castle at whose
gate we may ask the way 20 the city, O,
this mysterious spirit within us! II has two
wings. but il is IN a cage now IL is locked
fast TO keep it: but let the door of this case
open the least, and that soul is OFF. Eagles
wing could not catch IT, The lightnings are
not swift enough 20 take up with it, When
the soul leaves the body IL takes fifty worlds
ut a bound. And have ! no anxiety about
itf Have you no anxieyt about IL! do not
care what you do with my body when my
soul is gone, or whether you believe in Gre
nation or inhumatiou. ! shall sleep just az
well in a wrapping Of sackcloth as in satin
lined with eagles down. But my soluble
fore leave this house this morning ] viii
find out where IL is going 70 land. Thank
God for the intimation Of my text, that
when we die Jesus takes us. That answers
all questions for me- What though there
were massive bars between here and the city
of light, Jesus could remove them. What
though there were great Saharas Of dark
ness, Jesus could Hume them. What
though get weary on the way
Christ could lift me ON His omnipo-
tent shoulder What though there were
chasms 10 cross, His hand could trans
port me- Then LET Stephens prayer be my
diving litany: Lord Jesus, receive my
spirit Il may be in that hour we VIII be